Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please go this video link to hear Scott Underwood singing This Is Love, reminding all who meditate on the love given to all the unlovable (that’s you and me) by the Lamb of God.
Highlight Passage - Ephesians 4: 1-3 [NKJV] …
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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Highlight Passage [Context] - Ephesians 4: 1-12 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK
Reference Passage #1 … Matthew 5: 42-44 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK
Reference Passage #2 … John 3: 16 [NKJV] … I won’t insult you because I’m sure any Christian reading here will know this verse by heart.
Reference Passage #3 … 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … Yes, this is the “love chapter” from the Apostle Paul …
My Journal for Today: In this morning’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, the author, Dennis Fisher, points to a dilemma all of us face in life – that of trying to love the unlovable. He writes, … " In the book God in the Dock, author C. S. Lewis describes the kind of people we have trouble getting along with. Selfishness, anger, jealousy, or other quirks often sabotage our relationship with them. We sometimes think, Life would be much easier if we didn’t have to contend with such difficult people.”
But then fisher quotes C.S. Lewis, who challenges all of us, especially us Christians, with these words: "You are just that sort of person. You also have a fatal flaw in your character. All the hopes and plans of others have again and again shipwrecked on your character just as your hopes and plans have shipwrecked on theirs."
Ouch!!! … That hurt!
I’ll bet any reading here agreed when Fisher raised the issue of having people in our lives who are so, so difficult to love, even though we know Jesus’ commands to love even our enemies. [See the link above to Jesus’ reference to loving our enemies in Matthew 5: 42-44.] The Apostle Paul wrote his famous “love chapter” (see link to 1st Cor. 13 above) which gives us God’s own definition of the extent of loving all … not just the lovable.
And I don’t doubt that many reading here have been thinking about some people in our lives who are so, so, SO difficult to love. However, knowing, as Christians, that love is a choice and not a feeling, we, given the power of the Holy Spirit in us, as Christians, can do what Paul wrote about to the church (see the highlight passage quotes/links above) and that is to “walk worthy” of our calling as Christians … and … to CHOOSE to love … yes, even the unlovable. And think of what C.S. Lewis was saying about ALL OF US, … that WE are the unlovable ones whom God has chosen to love enough to send His Son to die for us (see the classic verse in John 3: 16).
Yes, I know … ENOUGH SAID!!
My Prayer for Today … Lord, thank You for loving this unlovable soul enough to die for me. ... Amen
Blogger Note: Every day during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK; on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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